Shrinking customer base: Japanese insurers have had a rough go of late. The country's aging population is increasingly expensive to insure, and the country's shrinking population means less future customers to offset payouts. According to Bloomberg, a Business Journal news partner, Japanese insurers have already made two other acquisitions north of $5 billion this year to extend outside of the country.

Growth potential:StanCorp has been on a nice, albeit, short run of success. Stock was up 10 percent on the year prior to the acquisition, a number more impressive when you consider Bloomberg's life insurance industry index is down over a point in the same period. StanCorp also racked up $64.3 million in net income in the second quarter , a 58 percent rise over 2014.